A tough story to swallow

Paul Amash, owner of four local Denny’s restaurants, wants his customers and vendors to know: most of his restaurants will be staying open.

A Times Union business story Wednesday told of Denny’s selling off 66 corporate-owned restaurants to lower its debt. The story was clear that no restaurants would close … but the corporate office refused to say where the restaurants being sold were located. The headline, “Denny’s selling off 66 restaurants,” may have also raised alarm in readers who didn’t bother to read the story.

Complicating the matter is that Amash IS selling one of his own restaurants, the Clifton Park branch, which will become an International House of Pancakes. That story also went public before Amash was ready to announce it.

Amash says he got more than 10 calls about his restaurants Wednesday morning. “The first was from my mother,” he said. He’s also gotten reports from managers of customers reading the story over their morning coffee and asking servers about it.

“They’re perceiving that they’re selling all my restaurants,” said Amash, who has been an owner for eight years and a manager for three decades. He also owns restaurants in East Greenbush, Saratoga Springs and Queensbury. The Denny’s in Albany is operated by Denny’s corporate.

“We do plan on expanding and doing more Denny’s in the area,” he said. “I’ve been with corporate Denny’s 30 years … it’s my whole life.”